Thanksgiving and a Christmas Parade

I'm amazed at how much work goes into one meal. I love cooking Thanksgiving, but any way you slice it, it is a lot of cooking. We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving with my mom. We tried a new sweet potato recipe that Stephen enjoyed. Sadly for Stephen, I try a new recipe every year in an attempt to reach sweet potato perfection. The problem is that I really don't like sweet potatoes, but both my guys love them. Noah has also discovered cranberry sauce. My big secret....I like the kind out of the can. I open it and think of that dog cartoon, where he watches the dog food slide out of the can and wiggle (still can shaped) in his bowl with a look of complete dejection. I, on the other hand, love cranberry sauce that way. Noah is my first convert. :)

We also started the tradition of going to Bull Run Park to see the Festival of Lights. Noah tradition has become sleeping through the Festival of Lights. This was his second sleep in a row. Maybe next year.

On Saturday, we went to the annual Leesburg holiday parade. It was fun to watch and see the bands perform. Secretly in our heart of hearts, Stephen and I would love for Noah to join the band. It was very cold and by the end, Noah had had enough of the cold and made it known to all that this cold thing stunk. Next year, Mommy and Daddy are driving closer to the parade route, so we don't have to walk in the cold. Overall, we had a good time and Noah got a cool Frosty the Snowman Light to wave around.

Picture with Santa

This year we decided to try the picture with Santa. Last year, Noah didn't really get the Christmas thing, but this year he is much more interested. However, sitting on Santa's lap was pushing it according to him. So to get our photo, Daddy lent a hand or rather a lap. I thought the picture was quite cute. My boys are very photogenic. Sadly Mommy is not so much and I wasn't dressed for picture taking. We even got a haircut before hand and Noah enjoyed his first lollypop. He has a new favorite now. I was impressed; Noah will sit at the hairdressers all by himself. Way to go kiddo!!

Busy Bees...

I am endlessly amazed at how busy this time of year gets. I thought staying home would provide a little more time, but not really. I love the baking and decorated that comes with Christmas. I am looking forward to showing Noah about Santa. In order to get prepared I built a series of cubbies for Noah's toys and then broke out the label maker - one of the world's greatest invention. It really doesn't do much for Noah, but it does wonders for me and now Daddy has a fighting shot at getting the toys in the right spots.

Noah has become quite the accessorizer. Check out Daddy's headphones and one of the medicine spoons that come in first aid kits.



By naptime, he had moved on to new headwear. It is important to keep your head warm when you sleep incase your room has a freak blizzard.


The one shot I have trouble getting is of Noah in Stephen's cowboy hat. This is the closest I get. When I try to get it from the front, he takes off the hat. I'll get it one of these days.

Long Time

It feels like a long time, since I have had a chance to write. I love this time of year, but no matter what is going on there is always a lot to do. I have been working on various Christmas presents and hoping the receivers like them. I have planned the menus and am getting ready to work on baking the cookies. I found the greatest cookie pan that I think will help make sugar cookies and gingerbread a little faster. I love decorating these cookies, but I hate rolling them out.

We recently had Henry come to spend the day with us while his daycare was closed. The boys were very fun together and Noah enjoyed playing with Henry as long as he didn't sit on Mommy's lap. He is a little possessive over his mommy. Henry and I still snuggled anyway. The boys especially enjoyed playing with Noah's water table.


Henry thought this was fun until he discovered the frog under the table and went to investigate.



Noah has been really cooperative while taking pictures. I've been experimenting with pictures and light. These are some I really like.

Halloween

Although this wasn't Noah's first Halloween, he was definitely more into it this year. Since this is the only year, I will get to dress him up in the costume of my choosing (next year he will have an opinion) I went with the Bee costume.

It is hard to get him still these days and most of my pictures are of him running in one direction or another. We did manage to get him in the stoller and down to the parade grounds. He can be bribed with apples, so that is our handy trick.

The parade this year was a little disappointing, since it is usually a lot longer with more of the high school bands (Being a former band geek, I like that part). It turns out the because Halloween was on a Friday most of the bands had football commitments. Noah overall enjoyed the parade and by the time we got home he was ready to crash. He has just figured out what the candy deal is.

We met up with Noah's friend, Henry. (I love this picture. It looks like Henry is getting a tiger hug.) Both boys seemed to enjoy getting out of the strollers and checking out their surroundings to paying attention to the parade. So we had a tiger and bumblebee.

Now to see if Noah remembers what Halloween is all about next year. He has definitely learned that good stuff comes from the plastic pumpkin.

18 month checkup

Well we had our 18 month checkup. I am ever amazed at what he is supposed to have accomplished by now - walking fast/running, at least a 10 word vocabulary, eating with a spoon, and the list goes on and on. I must say I am pleased that Noah has reached these milestones, but Wow what a lot to learn.

Noah is working hard on expressing himself and getting you to understand his wants. Friday, Noah handed me the car keys (which he got out of my purse), and said "Mommy, go, Mommy," then preceded to walk to the door. I decided to see if he really knew what he wanted, so I picked him up and put him in the car and said, "Okay, Noah where do you want to go?" His response, "cookie." In Noah language, that means the grocery store because Mommy gets you a cookie when we do our weekly shopping. So I headed to the grocery store and we picked up milk and a cookie. It was exactly what he wanted and he was as good as gold. These are the moments I wouldn't trade for the world.

Noah is now a whopping 24 lbs 14 oz. and comes in at 32 inches. His head is still in the 50th percentile, but basically the rest of him is lingering around the 25th. I was surprised that we have now reached the point that we don't go back for a well visit until he is 2. It is so far in the future that I can't even schedule it yet. He isn't a baby anymore. ;)

Happy Anniversary

(sung to William Tell) Happy Anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary,haaaappppy aniversary! Stephen and I celebrated our sixth anniversary today. We had a great day. Noah spent the day with Ammy and we went to Tysons and to Morton's in Reston. It was an amazing meal and Stephen and I enjoyed the alone mommy and daddy time. I don't think we have ever eaten a dinner so slowly. :) You can tell we have been married awhile. Presents have become more practical. Stephen got a Franklin Planner and I got a Japanese skillet. Not flashy, but exactly what we wanted.

Noah has taken to using his fudgescicle as a crayon. At Ammy's house he "painted" her shower and here he got to the stove.